Faltering Plans
by Addictedtobooks
Summary: The Krew learns that even the best plans can fail when they try to capture Amon. Nothing seems to be working out, and things continue to go down hill as the realize their hostage isn't exactly as she seems. Bad summaries are bad, but please enjoy! Will update the summary as I go! T for later chapters.
1. Chapter 1

Their plan had been perfect, almost flawless they thought. They had imagined it to be that way at least, imagined that they took account of all the possible variables in the situation. But once the plan was executed, and almost successful, they were proven very wrong.

When they had come up with the plan to capture "The Solution," Amon himself, they knew it would be difficult. They knew that, and that was why their team took so much time and effort to painstakingly go through every detail of the plan; and through every single scenario they thought of the plan would work. But their outcomes changed when an unthought-of variable happened.

"Did it work?" Asami whispered, her voice hissing through the tension she and the two brothers felt. They looked on below, through the smoke to the box and could not tell what had happened.

Mako frowned, his eyebrows furrowing, "I… don't know. It almost looked as if…" he mumbled, his voice trailing off.

"As if what?" Asami asked, eyes going wide in the fear that something had gone terribly wrong.

"As if someone jumped and pushed him out of the way… at… at the very last second." Bolin spoke softly, finishing his brother's thought. The three teenagers all turned their attention back on the ground as the smoke began to clear. There was no evidence that someone still hung around, but there was a banging on the metal box below them.

Bolin grinned, "It must have worked," he said, turning to Mako.

"I don't know," He said, extremely unsure of the situation. Simultaneously the three stood up and made their way to story below them. "I have a bad feeling about this." The fire bender mumbled, slowly approaching the box as the banging continued.

He and his brother slowly approached the caged window and peered in. "Well?" Asami urged, waiting for them to tell her what they saw.

Bolin frowned, almost pouting, "It's not him. It's just an equalist," he mumbled, feeling and looking almost dejected.

Mako groaned, "He must have pushed Amon out of the way." Just then the three could her running on the floor above them.

"Did it work?" Korra asked, bursting onto the balcony and grinning like a madwoman. Her happiness faded though as her three companions all shook their heads. "What? No… It had to have worked…"

Mako sighed, "Some stupid equalist pushed him out of the way," He grumbled, hitting the metal cage hard afterwards.

Korra came down to join them; "Well…" she started, looking around sadly, trying to find the solution to her problem in the room around her, "We can always keep the equalist as a hostage? And try to find information out about the equalists?" She suggested, glancing at her friends faces.

Asami shrugged, "I can't think of any better solution," she said, while the brothers nodded their approval.

"We take the equalist then." Korra said, sighing sadly, "Hopefully we can get some information out of them."

"Lin, have I ever mentioned how cool it is that you can metal bend?" Korra said, watching as the ex-chief and some of her friends on the police force moved the cage with their bending.

Lin sighed, rolling her eyes impatiently, "No. But I have been told by many others how 'cool' it is," she stated, looking unamused.

Korra ignored the metal bender and walked up to the box, peering in. The equalist, despite their predicament, seemed perfectly comfortable, splayed across the bottom on the box and their arms behind their head. Korra's eyebrows furrowed.

"What's wrong?" Mako wondered as he, Asami, and his brother walked up to join her.

She turned to them, a look of confusion still present on her face, "Well, Mako, if you were an equalist taken by the Avatar and her friends how exactly would you feel?"

The look of confusion seemed to be contagious as it spread onto Mako's face, "Uhm, a little worried I guess… maybe anxious."

"That equalists looks like they're sitting at home listening to the radio," Korra stated, feeling unsure of their improved plan now. The four teenagers all had a worried look and rushed to follow the cage and the metal benders into the next room. A holding cell covered a good portion of this room, the bars cutting the space almost in half. The metal benders placed the cage like box into the cell and made sure to close the doors. As soon as they were secure they opened the side of the box, allowing full view of the equalist inside.

Lin stepped forward to the equalist, her metal bending cords readied just incase, "Step outside the box," she ordered, watching carefully as the equalist stood up and walked out, sighing loudly and impatiently. "We ask for you absolute cooperation during this time. We don't want to have any conflict past this point, but we would like to as-" But before Lin could even finish speaking the equalist was moving.

It happened so suddenly that it took a handful of seconds for people to react. This gave the equalist enough time to block not only Lin's chi, but 3 of her other officers. Asami and Bolin, being two of the closest people to the equalist, made their moves. Asami held the element of surprise by coming from behind, sweeping her leg gracefully under the equalists and tripping them easily. Bolin was quick from the front, snatching the equalist by the waist and pinning them in a bear hug against him, holding their arms to their sides tightly.

Lin glared up at the equalist angrily, "Why you…" she spat, almost growling as she walked forward.

"Lin," Korra said, almost in a warning. "It's natural that someone like him would pull something like that. He just wants to get out." Instead of being met with a glare from Lin, Korra's response was met by a laugh.

Everyone turned to the equalist pinned against Bolin as they basically laughed their head off. Korra frowned walking up to the equalist and looking into the mask, "Something wrong?" she asked, feeling hurt that she was almost being laughed at.

"All you benders and your assumptions," the equalist trilled, laughing again lightly. That was when Korra ripped the mask off of the equalist.

"Or she, Lin. She could just want to get out."

The spiky haired girl that the mask had hid grinned at the Avatar before her. _Perfect,_ Korra thought, looking into this smug girls face. _We've captured a child. _


	2. Chapter 2

_A child,_ Korra thought, _how is it that we captured a child?_ Or at least the young black-haired girl looked young enough to be a child. _She's definitely short enough,_ Korra commented absently, noticing the equalist's height for the first time.

The girl grinned, "What? A little shocked there Avatar? Come on, I'm not that pretty." She said, smirking at all the looks she was receiving from her captors.

"Not by your looks, no; by your age… yes." Korra admitted."How old are you? Twelve… thirteen maybe?" she asked, looking at the girl intently as she tried wiggling out of Bolin's grasp, laughing again.

"I don't need to answer your questions." She hissed, spitting at Korra's feet. "You benders are getting nothing out of me."

Asami walked out from behind Bolin into the girl's field of view, "Well," she started, smiling slightly at the equalist. "Will you tell me? I'm not a bender."

The girl frowned, "You… you look familiar." She mumbled, narrowing her eyes at the Sato girl. "That symbol," she said, seeing the Future Industries symbol on Asami's outfit, "You're Hiroshi's daughter aren't you?"

Asami nodded, trying to keep her composure, "yes," she said, not looking exactly thrilled by the fact.

The equalist girl frowned, clearly thinking through her options. "Why are you helping the benders, betraying your father?" The girl's question would have been harsh on Asami, had she not asked with such pure and serious curiosity.

"My father and I... I love him, but we share wildly different beliefs." Asami answered sophisticatedly, keeping her face neutral the entire time.

The girl nodded slowly, weighing her option once more, "well… I guess my age can't hurt too much." She mumbled "I'm fifteen." Everyone blinked a few times, disbelieving.

"Fifteen?" Korra asked, sounding confused, "Like one and a five? You don't look fifteen."

The girl flared heavily, "So I'm hitting puberty late," she said, rolling her eyes, "But yes, I am fifteen."

Asami brought back her blank, neutral face again, "Can we as you your name?"

The girl sighed, "If you must know… I go by Rima."

Bolin cocked his head, "That's what you go by? So it isn't your name?" He asked, watching her shrug slightly, "Well what does Rima stand for then?"

Rima grinned, "Glad you asked. Rima stands for really intelligent, majorly attractive."

Lin just shook her head, "Well Rima," she started, stepping forward once more, "I am Lin, now that we are properly introduced I'd like you to answer some more questions."

Rima smirked, "You go right ahead and ask, Ex-chief… but I'm not promising you any answers."


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Hey guys, sorry this has taken me so long to put up! I was away for a week, but here is chapter three! **

"We've been at this for hours." Mako stated, glancing at the smug girl inside of the cell. "She's hardly given us any answers.

Korra grumbled, "That's why _I_ should question her."

"No," Asami said, looking to her friend, "She won't answer any of you. I'm trying, but she isn't going to trust me with anything important."

"_She,_" Rima trilled, "is right here," The three teens looked to the cell where a displeased Rima sat, leaning against a wall. "And don't worry _she_ won't be here for long."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Korra demanded, watching as the girl smirked, crossed her arms, and closed her eyes, relaxing against the wall.

"Amon will break me out. Snatch me up right from under you prissy Avatar nose," she sang, eyes opening to watch Korra's reaction.

The young water tribe girl looked as if she was going to send bolts of lightning down at the equalist. "Korra," Mako mumbled, grabbing her shoulder, "Breathe, and calm down. Rima isn't going anywhere; we have her under constant watch." Korra listened, taking a deep breath and glared daggers at the girl instead.

Rima laughed, "You honestly think having me under surveillance will stop Amon?"

"Do you honestly think _you're_ important enough for Amon to want to save you?" Korra jeered, eyes narrowing in a new glare.

Rima tipped her head back against the wall, crossing one leg over the other and smiling, "Yes, Avatar. I do."

Korra pouted slightly, "Well why do you think that?" she asked, watching the spiky haired girl.

Rima regained her smug look once more, "Well why wouldn't he? Especially since I'm the-" but the equalist was cut off by the door slamming shut.

"Did we miss anything exciting?" Lin asked while she and Bolin came in with lunch bags of noodles.

Korra shushed them, "Not exactly, but you did just cut off Rima saying something of possible importance."

Bolin perked up, "What was it? What were you saying?" He asked, sliding a lunch bag for her through the bars. She didn't move to grab it; instead she just stared at the water tribe food distastefully.

"Well," she said, clearly annoyed that her moment had been ruined, "I was saying that Amon _will_ save me, but especially because I am the only one who knows of his true identity." Everyone froze, taken aback by the girls information.

Korra frowned, her eyebrows furrowing deeply, "You're lying… bluffing." She said, her eyes narrowing as Rima's lit up. The chi-blocker was clearly enjoying herself; instead of answering Korra she just shrugged, watching as the Avatar clenched her fist.

"Korra…" Mako warned, quietly.

"No!" Korra yelled, her clenched fist slamming on the wall next to her, "I am done with taking deep breaths and calming down, Mako. We don't need to be calm and collected, what we need is answers. Answers _she_ clearly can give us!" Korra said, unclenching her fist and jabbing a finger towards Rima. "Who is he?" She asked, whirling on the girl in the cell.

Rima only laughed, her head thrown back against the wall. Her amusement clearly caused the Avatar trouble, but the Avatar's anger only drove on Rima's laughter, "You really think I am just going to shout it out to you? Fat chance, infidel, I am not that easy to manipulate."

Korra looked ready to spring, her body tensed and flexed; looking more like a polar bear dog ready to pounce on prey every second, "Who. Is. _Amon!" _Korra yelled, gripping the bars of the cell tightly and staring the girl down. Everyone that stood by them was unsure of what to do, all of them slowly turning their attention to see Rima's reaction.

She stood leisurely, slowly getting to her feet and stretching like a cat. Smiling menacingly she tiredly walked towards Korra, taking her time and playing up her role, "Hmm?" She mumbled, pretending to be oblivious to the anger that rolled off Korra in waves.

"Tell me!" Korra yelled, leaning into the bars. Though she towered the girl standing before her in the cell Korra's actions and voice seemed to have no effect on Rima.

Instead of looking scared, or even anxious, Rima looked as though she were having the best time of her life, "Why don't you make me?" she whispered, standing on her tip toes and smirking at the larger girl in front of her.

"Enough. Both of you." Lin's voice rang sharp and clear through the heavy tension in the room. Korra, begin to breath heavily and lifting a fist just narrowed her eyes at the girl below her, "Korra," Lin warned, resting a hand on the girl's shoulder. Korra unclenched her fist, slowly taking a step back away from the cell, which only seemed to amuse Rima.

Chuckling the equalist girl shook her head, "What, Avatar? Scared?" She taunted, cocking her head with an overjoyed smile.

"Back off," Mako said firmly, causing Rima's smile to turn into a pout.

"Well somebody is no fun." She mumbled, crossing her arms and moving back to the wall across from the bars once more.

Korra turned to Lin, still worked up, but calmer than before, "We need to figure out who Amon is, Lin. She _knows_."

Lin sighed, "I know; we cannot force information from her though." She told Korra, "But I do have an idea." She motioned for Korra to follow her into the hallway, out of ear shot of anyone else.

"Well, that was just rude, wasn't it?" Rima's voice sang out after a minute, making Asami, Mako, and Bolin turn back towards her.

Bolin shrugged, "If it's important for the rest of Team Avatar to know… we'll know."

Rima blinked, dazed for a second before laughter ripped through her throat, "You are so naïve… It's almost sad." As she continued laughing for a minute the three teens were unsure of what to do, how to react.

"I am not." Bolin finally said after a few minutes, trying to look at least a little offended.

Rima scoffed, "Sure you aren't." she mumbled.

"I'm not!"

"Whatever. I bet you're also easily distracted."

"Enough!" Mako intervened, "You don't need to hassle my brother any longer."

Bolin waved him off, "I can handle myself… mostly." He said, sitting down in front of the bars of the cell, "Naïve maybe… easily distracted? Not as much…" Bolin said, trying to find his own triumphant smirk like she had worn before. "Oh, are you going to eat those noodles?"


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Hi guys, so I went to camp last week and while I was away numerous somewhat depressing things happened. First, and foremost, my laptop crashed. Died. Fried. Went bye bye. Which is super upsetting because I have everything I have written on there in the last year and 4 months. Also, my mother cleaned my room. THIS is super depressing because she thought I had typed everything up that was on lined paper and therefore through it all out… meaning that all this fic that I wrote on paper also went Bye Bye. This is my longwinded excuse as to why I have not updated this. The original chapter four was much better than this I think, but I can hardly remember what was written as it was like 2 weeks ago at 12:30 am. So please forgive me for this being so late and somewhat bland. BUT as always please enjoy and review! **

Rima sat in her cell, her face contorted into a mask of disgust as she watched Bolin eat not only Rima's noodles, but also slurped up the rest of Asami's, "Slow down, Fatty, you might get a tummy ache."

Bolin slurped up the last noodle before looking over at her, "I, miss, am not fat." To this Rima raised her eyebrows, "I am a growing boy." He said, placing a hand on his stomach and patting it lightly, "I need to keep my energy up."

"That doesn't mean you need to keep your weight up at the same time." Bolin glared at her as Rima smirked, "What? I'm just saying, you could earn to lose a few pounds here and there."

"Enough!" Mako yelled, before Bolin could bounce back with a retort, "None of us want to listen to the two of you go back and forth like this. It's bad enough we have to babysit in the first place."

Just then the door opened to let in both Korra and Lin, "No worries, Mako, you're officially off duty." Lin said, standing in the doorway with her hands on her hips, "You too, Asami."

"Oh, oh, me too?" Bolin asked, getting up and grinning at Lin.

Lin cocked her head, trying to hide a small smile, "Afraid not, you have first watch. Someone will come to switch with you in a few hours though." At this Bolin slouched and took on a pouty face.

"Oh c'mon, Bo, it's not that bad," Korra said, clapping a hand on his shoulder.

Bolin perked up, "Are you on watch with me?"

Korra blinked, backtracking a bit and stumbling on her words, "Well, uh, you see…. Uhm, no, Bolin, I'm not. I have air bending training with Tenzin and the kids." Bolin slouched and pouted once more, "But I'll try and come after," she said, following the other three out the door.

"See you, Bo!" He heard before the door slammed shut and it was only him and Rima left in the room. Slowly Bolin turned back to find Rima trying to squeeze between the bars of her cell; the scary part was that she almost made it.

"Hey!" Bolin yelled, regaining the girl's attention and watched as she continued to wiggle, "Stop that!" When she obviously wasn't listening Bolin began to earth bend, pulling up part of the rock floor to frame around the two bars she wiggled through.

He felt as though he could hear Rima's scowls, "That's not fair!" She yelled, wiggling back out the opposite way and glaring at him through the bars once more.

"Too bad," Bolin said, feeling triumphant. This only made Rima look angrier, and he could hear her mumbling under her breath, "What did you say?" he asked, eyebrows raised.

"I said," she grumbled, "you should come in here and let me whack that grin off of your face!" she yelled at him, glaring heavily afterwards.

Bolin shrugged, "I would not want to hurt you. Y'know, with you being a non-bender and all it's kind of an unfair advantage."

"_Too bad,_" Rima mimicked, "I think you're just scared that I'll pummel you're sorry earthbending butt." She declared, smirking once more as she looked up to the window, calculating how she could climb up there and remove the bars surrounding it.

Bolin frowned, "You could not. Mako and I are pro-benders, we- I mean, I could take you easily."

"Prove it."

"Fine!" Bolin yelled to Rima's surprise. She watched carefully as he pulled up another frame of rock from the floor, this time on her side of the cell, blocking what she assumed was the door. Bolin then carefully opened the barred gate of the cell and stepped into the frame of rock, closing the gate shut behind him before he pushed the floor back down. "Fine." He said again, calmer and more uncertain than before now that he faced his tiny sparring opponent.

Rima grinned menacingly, taking a fighting stance, "Are you sure?" she asked, watching as he followed her lead.

"I'm sure."

"You move first." She said, sounding as though they were merely playing a game of chess and not about to spar. Bolin was extremely unsure of himself in that moment, trying to read this menacing little girl. He slowly moved, debating his first move and if he should bend or not. As soon as she even slightly moved her foot, Bolin made the floor slip beneath her; but she only laughed, "Is that all you got, fatty?" She asked, having easily changed her feet positioning to move with the floor, "My turn," she trilled, and before he could even react she was moving, flipping in the air and throwing her arms against his right arm.

He frowned, and stood up straight, "Was that… supposed to do anything?" he asked, having hardly felt her touch him. His only answer from her was a smirk. He raised his eyebrows, and tried to bend up more rock, finding that it didn't work. Bolin's eyes widened and he frowned, "Chi-blocking isn't fair!" He yelled, looking at her in shock.

Rima shrugged, "Neither is you having your bending."

He frowned, using his leg to stomp up the ground beneath her while he hoped she was somewhat distracted. She went up with the rock, but jumped, coming down behind him quickly and gracefully. As quickly as the first arm, she took out the other, and as Bolin tried to turn and stop her she took out one of his legs, watching as he stumbled and fell.

He regained his pouty face once more, "This is an unfair fight!"

"It always was." She said, shrugging, "That was kind of the point, wasn't it, Mr. Pro-bender?"


	5. Chapter 5

After they had finished their first sparring match, and Bolin's bending returned, he and Rima continued fighting for hours. They tried fighting with different disadvantages; Bolin tried to fight her without his bending, while Rima decided to not use her chi-blocking. The two easily found their strengths and the other's weaknesses, and just kept challenging each other.

Finally, after what felt to them like ages, the door outside of the barred cell opened. "Bo?" Mako called, frowning as he saw his brother on the wrong side of the bars.

Bolin was panting from the fight, but managed to wave at his brother in greeting. The split second that he was distracted allowed Rima to get a solid hit on his shoulder, "Hey!" he yelled, turning to glare at the grinning girl.

"I win again!" She cheers as she smirks at his angered face, "What? It was a fair hit; a solid point on my part!" Mako blinked at the two of them, looking back and forth in confusion.

"Exactly what is going on?" He asked regaining Bolin's attention.

The younger brother shrugs, "We got bored and decided to spar."

Mako blinks at them once more, "You… got bored… and decided to fight the girl who we captured?"

Bolin's cheeks turn bright red in colour, "Well, Mako, when you put it that way…" He mumbles as he scratches the back of his neck and Rima rolls her eyes at the two of them.

"He can do what he wants," she states, her arms crossed as she stands and glances towards Mako, "I don't recall it being against a law to spar with people."

Mako scoffed and narrowed his eyes at the condescending girl, "You're right." he offered, but his tone was laced with sarcasm, "But it isn't exactly right to be playfully fighting with the enemy." He finished by looking over at his brother with raised eyebrows.

"Okay," Bolin sighed, slouching in shame as if a parent had caught him in the cookie jar. He quickly manoeuvred his way out of the cell and stood across from his brother. "How much longer do I have to-"

"You can go. It's mine turn to babysit her."

Bolin nodded with a sigh. "Bye," he said politely, waving to Rima as he left.

That was when the awkward silence started along with the glaring. Mako sat himself down against the wall and watched as Rima did the same, directly in his line of vision and shot him looks made of pure daggers. It began to make him feel uneasy.

He didn't really want her to win though, and closed his eyes to avoid her glance. Win what, he wasn't sure, but he couldn't stare back into those knives anymore.

"You can't boss him around his whole life y'know. He's a big boy." Mako slowly opened his eyes, looking straight at the girl with the arms across her chest.

"I know that," he answered evenly, meeting her eyes with a calm look.

Rima laughed shortly without humor. "Really?" she asked, shaking her head with a smirk, "All you do is boss him around. From what I see anyway."

"You don't know anything," he claimed defensively, his amber eyes narrowing into a glare once more.

Her head cocked to the side, "Don't I? I can read people." She told him, leaning forward, "_Very _well."

Mako just looked away, ignoring the girl as she leant back against the wall with a triumphant smirk. She had made him begin to squirm. "Bo needs someone to look out for him."

"Looking out and bossing around are different things."

He turned back to glare again, "I know."

"Do you?" She asked, her smirk gone and a curious look replacing her mischievous one.

"Yes." He said forcefully. "I do."

Rima's eyebrows just raised, looking the firebender over as her mind did calculations. "It looks to me like you just want to run his life. You don't want him to grow up." She spoke seriously, making verbal notes, "You act like a father towards him."

Mako's eyes softened, widening a bit. He wondered she learnt to read people so well. "I may as well be his dad." he told her, shrugging.

"No," she said, shaking her head and confusing him. "You shouldn't have to be, you should just be his brother." She told him.

_How did this conversation become so serious? _He wondered, eyebrows knitted together as she began to smirk evilly again, "Unless you want to be old enough to be his father." she said, teasing him to get another reaction out of him.

_Can she be serious for more than five minutes? _Clearly the answer was no.


End file.
